Selling your home could be, if not the most, one of the most stressful episodes in your adult life — starting from decision-making to the actual process up to the final agreement — physically, mentally, even emotionally, and probably financially, too.
It’s more than just putting up a “For Sale” sign in your front yard or putting a fresh coat on the walls inside and the outside of the house, and taking “nice” photos of your home to post on the net, especially if you’re aiming for a big sale, i.e., attracting great potential buyers. There are a lot of homes for sale in VA and you have to have what it takes to stand out on the list.
So we’ve come up with this To-do list for you to tick off before actually selling your home. These tips could help you get your potential buyers oohing and ahhing over your home and ready to present a good offer.
Important Things To Do Before Selling Your Home
Find a Listing Agent
Do avoid the temptation of DIY-ing your home selling to save the money you’d otherwise pay a real estate agent. But even in a hot market (when there are more potential buyers than available homes), the industry experts say that hiring a listing agent or a real estate agent is one of the best decisions you can ever make.
There are many real estate agents that you can find online, however you need to be wise in choosing one. Asking for referrals from friends, relatives or even workmates is much better than doing the search from scratch. Researching and doing a background check might sound time-consuming, but this is a must if you want to be sure that you’ll only get an expert real estate and receive quality service.
Aside from skills, it is recommended to hire a real estate agent that you feel comfortable working with and someone you feel that you can trust to take on the selling process with your interests at heart, which is, to sell your home for the highest possible price. Our real estate agents VA here in Barry Jenkins – Better Homes & Gardens Real Estate | Real Estate Agents in Virginia Beach, VA has the market industry knowledge and possess hard and soft skills to become successful in the field.
Declutter and Depersonalize Your Home
One of the, if not the first thing to do before listing your house in homes for sale in VA, even before you start packing, is Decluttering. This means giving your house a thorough, deep cleaning, top to bottom, bottom to top, not forgetting each nook and cranny. Removing unwanted stuff, and re-organizing your furniture will give your home a feel-good vibe and fresh look.
Remove personal decorations
Family photos, memorabilia, and other personal collections must be taken out of sight and packed away. Seeing those items will not be welcoming to any potential buyer because they would get the feeling that they are just visiting someone else’s home, instead of viewing a potential home they would be interested in purchasing.
Take out any evidence of pets
Pet smells could and would be a turn-off to some buyers. Consider deep cleaning and disinfecting your entire home to avoid decreasing the value of your home. Keep in mind that owning a pet is okay, what’s not okay is letting their dirt stay around your home.
Touch up or Repaint
Check your walls, inside and out, for any cracks and breaks and fix them, and do not just cover them with paint. A scrupulous buyer would notice “minor” details like those. A fresh coat of paint brings freshness into the house, and the colors can also give out a sense of warmth and welcome. New paint color may seem like a small detail, but this can impact the value of your home.
Replace old fixtures and make repairs
Check and replace broken light fixtures, window treatments, door handles, hinges, and locks on your front and back doors, including your garage door. Keep in mind that broken things laying around might leave an impression that you are not taking care of your property. which is definitely a no-no.
Hire a home inspector
Most buyers would prefer and even request to see proof that your home had undergone a home inspection. At the same time, a certified home inspector would notice a lot of things in the condition of your house that is not quite visible to the naked eye. The results would also give you an idea if you need to call a handyman (for major fixings like plumbing and wiring) or if repairs would be just an easy fix for you to DIY before setting up your home for viewing or photo sessions.
Freshen up your front Yard by landscaping
Your home’s curb appeal is not something you should ignore or even gloss over. This is the first thing potential buyers will see, even before they step inside your home. Your curb is the buyers’ first impression of your home so you have to make it a good and inviting one to motivate them to come inside or schedule a viewing.
Hire a professional photographer
Owning an HD smartphone camera sometimes is not enough to capture the real beauty of your home. You are showing off your home to get potential buyers so you must show each part of your home the best way possible. If you have a budget, hire a professional real estate photographer. Professional photographer has the ability to focus on space and composition, and use techniques and equipment to make their photography stand out in the crowded online home for sale listings.
Final touches
One of the last steps before an open house or inviting a potential buyer over to your house make sure to do a few minute’s last touch-ups like letting fresh air flow into the house to make it smell fresh, putting flowers in vases, lighting up a scented candle or allowing natural light in. Simple things like this can help emphasize your home’s best features.
What to Avoid when Selling a House
Not hiring a real estate agent
Hiring a professional real estate agent definitely pays off. A good one will have your interests at heart, get you a fair and competitive price, and increase your chances of selling faster. They will also help filter out viewers who have no intention of putting in an offer, as well as have the experience and expertise in negotiating the sale process for you, and to handle for you any problems that could arise in the process. And, professional real estate agents are familiar with all the paperwork needed, the pitfalls, and issues cropping up in real estate deals and can help you how to ensure a smooth process flow until completion.
Getting too emotional
If it’s the first time to sell your house, it wouldn’t surprise anyone if you get emotional about it. When it’s time to finally say goodbye, most people find it difficult to hold back their emotions. Do not worry, a lot of homes for sale in VA sellers share the same story as you.
When you finally resolve to sell your home, switch your mindset to a businessperson or salesperson. If you look at this endeavour from a financial perspective, you’ll be able to distance yourself from the emotional side of the transaction.
Avoid Overpricing Your Property
The “right” asking price is a key variable in a successful sales offer. Most buyers are going to make a comparative market analysis to find a fair offering price. Experts say that overpriced homes for sale in VA, in general, do not sell. Overpricing is said to be the greatest mistake that sellers can do. On the other hand, putting your price on the low end will, theoretically, bring out multiple offers which will then bid the price higher until its actual market value. Underpricing can even be a strategy to build up additional interest in and attention to your listing but you must do it strategically, or else potential buyers might think that there are hidden damages or issues in your house, hence the low price. Anyway, if you find an offer to be too low, you can always turn it down.
To help you determine the price range of your property, ask a real estate agent to help you analyze your home value.
Remember: Set your price to be a realistic one that is comparable to the homes for sale in VA.
be ready to negotiate
Prepare to negotiate, because most buyers will. Homeowners usually list their homes at a buyer-attractive price with some room for negotiation. This is another strategy that works opposite of underpricing. Here, the buyer gets to feel they got a good value and you get to receive the amount you need from the transaction. However, you must take note that getting your asking price (more or less of it) will depend not only on your strategy but also on how well you staged your home.
Selling during the winter months
The wintertime is commonly a slow season for homes for sale in VA. It is the holiday season, meaning people are preoccupied with social meet-ups or events; the cold weather also drives people to just stay home. This means there are fewer buyers going out looking, so, selling your home would take a longer time, or you might not get as much as you anticipated.
In the same manner that there are hardly any active potential buyers, there wouldn’t be as many sellers competing with you, too. That could be an advantage. So it might be better to have your property listed when the weather starts warming up. Usually, prospects are readier and more willing to buy during warmer weather. Learn more about 10 common home selling mistakes.
No proper insurance
If you don’t have a homeowners insurance policy, you must get your home insured in the event that a viewer meets an accident while on your property and files a suit against you for damages. Other precautions you could take are taking your dog out of the house during viewings, keeping viewers’ kids away from your pool, and ensuring there are no hazards on your property.
Attempting to Hide Major problems
Major problems can never be hidden or disguised. When the buyer comes to do an inspection, those will be revealed. It would be a good idea to have your home inspected before listing so you can avoid surprises that would turn out costly after your home is already under a contract. Several states have disclosure rules that demand the disclosure by sellers of known problems if buyers ask and some require only a voluntary disclosure about particular concerns.
